Sea creatures, and in particular fish, which are found in various bodies of water such as lakes, ponds, rivers, and streams as well as the sea, have been essential to the sustainability of life for mankind. Humans have utilized devices such as fishing poles and/or fishing nets to capture and remove fish from their natural habitats. After removal, the fish can be consumed as food. Additionally, fish are a vital part of the cycle of life for organisms that inhabit the water and air. As such, fish not only aid in the proper functioning of the ecosystem, but also provide sustenance and nourishment as food for mankind Therefore, fish serve various useful purposes and functions.
Over the centuries, the art and science of catching fish, which is known as fishing, has evolved into a sport that is both entertaining and fun for participants and spectators alike. In every country around the world, fishing tournaments are held and games are played that employ a form of fishing. While each fishing tournament or fishing game has its own particular set of objectives and rules, generally the primary objective of such a tournament or game involves catching the heaviest fish, or heaviest group of fish, within a certain predetermined amount of time. Moreover, such game or tournament rules may dictate that each fisherman (who are sometimes referred to as anglers) may only possess, at most, a certain number of fish at any one time during the game or tournament.
A fish culling tournament is one example of a fishing tournament that utilizes some of the aforementioned rules. In a fish culling tournament, tournament rules generally mandate that no more than two anglers can be positioned on a particular boat or particular pier. As such, each boat launching from shore may carry, at most, two anglers. Usually after launching, each boat navigates to a different area of the body of water. Within each boat is a live well that holds the fish that are caught by each angler during the tournament. After an angler catches a fish with a fishing pole or other like device, the angler may place the fish in a live well. The live well functions as a holding tank for fish that are captured by the angler. The live well may be partially or completely filled with water, allowing the captured fish to breathe and swim therein.
Generally, the primary objective during a fish culling tournament is to catch as many fish as possible within a set amount of time while only keeping, at most, a set number of fish in a live well at any one time. To win the tournament, an angler, within the set amount of time, must catch and have in possession no more than a maximum number of fish that have a greater combined weight than the combined weight of each group of fish caught and possessed by other tournament participating anglers. While fish culling tournament rules vary from tournament to tournament, generally tournament rules provide eight hours as the time limit and five fish as the number of fish.
For purposes of this disclosure, the subsequent discussion and examples will apply the typical eight hours as the time limit and five fish as the maximum number of fish. However, it should be noted that these constraints are provided herein for illustration and example purposes only and thus do not limit this disclosure. Therefore applying the example constraints given above, an angler can win a fish culling tournament by catching and possessing, at most, five fish by the eighth hour of tournament play that have a greater combined total weight than combined total weight of the five fish caught and possessed by the other tournament participating anglers.
At the beginning of a fish culling tournament, the participating anglers will usually spread out over of a body of water. During the tournament, some anglers may prefer to fish from a pier or other similar stationary object. However, fishing from a boat is typically the preferred choice. Fish culling tournament rules generally allow for only two anglers per boat. After the anglers board their respective boats, the boats are moved into position and the fishing begins.
During the tournament, anglers utilize standard fishing devices to catch fish such as a fishing pole, rod, line, hook and/or lure. When a fish is caught, an angler removes that particular fish from the fishing device and deposits it into a live well. This process is repeated until the maximum number of fish allowed by tournament rules is caught, which as disclosed herein as an example is the fifth fish, and placed in the live well. Once maximum number of fish allowed plus one is caught, which as disclosed herein as an example is the sixth fish, the angler must choose which individual fish among the fish in the live well and the newly caught fish weighs the least. After the angler has chosen the lightest weight fish, it is culled and thrown back into the body of water. Therefore, if the fish having the lightest weight is the newly caught fish, then the newly caught fish is thrown back into the body of water, the fish contained in the live well are kept, and the angler attempts to catch another fish. If, however, the fish having the lightest weight is within the live well, then that particular fish is removed from the live well and thrown back into the body of water, and replaced by the newly caught fish. In sum, the angler must compare the weight of the newly caught fish to the weight of each individual fish contained in the live well. The individual fish that weighs the least must be tossed back into the body of water if the angler hopes to win the tournament. This process is employed for each fish caught after the maximum number of fish allowed for the tournament (for example, the fifth fish) has been caught and placed within the live well.
At the conclusion of the tournament, each participating angler should have the five heaviest fish caught by that angler during the tournament in the live well. Tournament officials determine the total weight of fish in each angler's live well by combining the weight of all fish therein. The participating angler with the highest total weight of the five fish in the live well wins the tournament.
To have the best chance at winning the tournament, anglers must quickly and correctly cull fish. If anglers do not perform the culling process in a quick and accurate manner, they risk underperforming in the tournament. Therefore, quickness, agility and accuracy are important factors for winning in fish culling tournaments.
Decreasing the amount of time that an angler expends in culling fish during the tournament increases the amount of time that the angler can spend fishing. This, in turn, increases the probabilities that an angler will have larger and heavier fish in the live well at the completion of the tournament. Conventional and known fish culling apparatuses do not allow the angler to efficiently determine which fish to cull from the group. Using conventional apparatuses and methods, a portion of an angler's time during the tournament is expended in weighing each fish that is caught, manually recording the weight of each fish, and comparing the weight of each fish one to another. In doing so, an angler is usually able to cull the correct fish. However during known culling procedures, significant time is diverted away from catching fish, which, in turn, reduces the probabilities that an angler will have the heaviest fish in the live well at the completion of the tournament.
Furthermore, known culling procedures can produce to inaccurate results more often than desired. For example, an angler may cull the wrong fish due to mistakes in the angler's recording system. Specifically, the angler may record an incorrect weight of a fish, incorrectly associate a particular fish with a particular weight, or make some other incorrect entry into a recording system. These and additional errors can result in the incorrect culling of fish, thereby reducing the angler's chances of winning the tournament.